Murder, She Pleaded
by LavernaG
Summary: She hadn't meant to kill them all. One-Shot.


_**It's a common joke among "Murder, She Wrote" fans that Jessica was actually the world's greatest serial killer. For some bizarre reason, I decided to turn this idea into a small one-shot. For the record, I don't really think Jessica would be capable of murder; this story is just something I had to get off my chest.**_

_**I hope you enjoy, and please leave me a review if you do! :)**_

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Murder. First degree. Well, she should have expected that. All things considered.

A restaurant manager had been killed in the lounge of his own establishment. Jessica had never expected it to go as far as the courthouse. She also hadn't counted on the young district attorney being such a determined and resourceful man.

It would have been easy to get a few friends to verify her alibi and witness to her character, however, now that the DA had brought up all those other cases, things were getting a little more complicated.

She hadn't meant to kill them all. Of course, most of them had deserved it. There was the reporter who'd slandered her, the air force officer who'd tried to smear Frank's good name, the theatre producer who'd made fun of her books, the writer who'd written that awful movie script for her second novel, the mechanic who'd run into her in the doorway of a truck stop and hadn't apologized, the priest who'd interrupted her speech, the waitress who'd informed her that they were out of her favourite fish… The list was endless. They'd all had it coming to them.

Naturally she wasn't always guilty. She would never have sent Preston to prison for something she had done. And there was also no way she could have killed that poor unfortunate maid in London. There were some others. She'd had plenty of time to ponder the other killers' motives during her time in the State of Maine Institute for the Criminally Insane.

She was rather proud of her time there, actually. It had been a very educational and enlightening stay, and she'd managed to convince all her friends that she'd only been there for research.

Not even Seth suspected. He was such a dear man; Jessica didn't think he'd feel the same way about her if he knew what secrets her conscience hid. Naturally, she'd never involved Frank, and Grady's frequent involvement was also an accident. In spite of how cold she could make her heart when she wielded a murder weapon, she did care deeply for her nearest and dearest.

She couldn't honestly say when all this had started. She wasn't sure how that little old lady had fallen off the cliff on the coast of Cabot Cove when she was eight. She didn't remember shooting her neighbour in elementary school. The dead school counsellor in high school had been an act of self-defence. And then there was the car accident in college—Jessica had more than enough reason to never learn to drive.

Things had slowed down somewhat when she'd gotten married—Frank had always had a way of both calming and keeping her busy. He'd even managed to keep her from having an 'accident' befall Neil's troublesome family. She'd sometimes even found herself thinking, hoping she wouldn't kill again.

Frank's death and Grady reading the enhanced description of one of her exploits had changed everything. Now she was a celebrity for publishing stories about her killings and framing people for murders she'd committed. But that was her secret.

The case had gained an unworldly amount of recognition from media. Every day the district attorney seemed to come up with at least two new murders and nearly all of the people Jessica had once 'proved guilty' were eager to cooperate with him.

Seth, Eve Simpson and Sheriff Metzger had flown up from Cabot Cove to testify in her defence, witness to her character and, in Eve's case, gather information for the rest of their home town. First they'd expressed confusion at the bizarre case against her, then outrage. But as the DA continued to dig up evidence and strange coincidences that spoke against her, Jessica had noticed a flicker of a horrible doubt appearing in their eyes.

She was not allowed to speak to them—not in private nor in the presence of the DA. Each time she caught Seth's eye in the courtroom, Jessica tried her best to pour her confession into her look—the lie she'd told for so long that it almost seemed real to her. She had to make sure at least her best friend would not give up on her. Seth was doing his best, too, she could tell, but with each day he looked more and more tired, more and more mournful, more and more unsure.

She had been so careful, so insanely precise! She'd always seen to every little detail; nothing ever escaped her notice. She couldn't imagine what concrete evidence the persistent district attorney had against her.

She'd had to sack two lawyers during this trial already. Each had advised her to plead not guilty by reason of insanity. Jessica was trying desperately to hold on to the third one, promising him an irrational salary and making use of her best feminine qualities.

She hadn't lost yet. The trial was still only half-way through. There were still a number of aces for Jessica to play. She still had a few tricks up her sleeve for emergencies. In addition to a few friends in high places she had yet to call, a myriad of indisputable, solid facts to fire at the meddlesome DA and an abundance of good old-fashioned logic, she had yet to turn on the waterworks.

This was just a minor setback. Jessica might have been nearing seventy, but she still had enough vim and vigour in her to fight this fight. The DA might have thought he was holding the trump card for now, but she was going to win. She always did. She was far too clever and experienced to fail.

Jessica took her place in the witness stand with unshakable confidence hidden under a waxen mask of uncertain apprehension. Still, that DA looked pretty sure of himself…

_The End_


End file.
